"My cousin is the one who made this discovery and reported her (the evidence was very clear). She was found guilty. But this question isn't about her, or the horrific things she did. It's about grieving my messed-up family in the aftermath. One side of the family either swept it under the rug, pretending that nothing had happened, or actually said, which is incomprehensible to me, that sexually abusing teen boys (as opposed to girls) is OK."
"Eventually, they cut my cousin out, along with anyone else in the family who wouldn't ignore or justify my sister's behavior. It's clear now that if anyone in the family ever was or is abused, they'd know it wouldn't be safe to speak up-not to anyone on "that side." Obviously, I'm with my cousin (and the other "exiled" family). I cannot ignore what happened, and I'm not going to spend time with people who put the blame on kids when they are abused."
A large extended family fractured after discovery that a sister preyed on a minor student and likely abused foster children; the sister was reported and found guilty. One branch of the family excused or minimized the abuse and continued including the sister in gatherings, while the cousin who reported the abuse was ostracized along with others who refused to look the other way. The narrator supports the cousin and refuses contact with those who blame victims. Therapy has begun to process grief for the lost closeness and trust of a once-loving family, and the narrator struggles with longing for reunion that would be unsafe and inauthentic.
Read at Slate Magazine
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]